Colton Dixon Releases His Debut Album “A Messenger” – Lyric Videos!

American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips isn’t the only season 11 alum to make a splash on the charts. Colton Dixon, who left the competition rather abruptly in 7th place, has been doing well on the Christian Contemporary charts with his singles, “Never Gone” and “You Are.”

Now, he releases his debut album today, titled A Messenger, an album full of pop rock worship songs, featuring big, big choruses and a few hard rock flourishes. I think Colton is set to become one of the quiet successes of season 11 and is poised to take a spot next to Mandisa–the season 5 alum who has has had a string of Christian radio hits since she left the show in 2006.

Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted.I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!

Question from a non-native English speaker: Anyone have an idea why the album is titled “A Messenger” and not just “Messenger” or “The Messenger”? Purely from the language point I kind of get the drift that “The Messenger” might be too preposterous, somewhat like claiming to be “The Messiah” or “The One”, but why not “Messenger”? Sorry for the OT-question but I work in a language-oriented job and these things just bug me…

…I kind of get the drift that “The Messenger” might be too preposterous, somewhat like claiming to be “The Messiah” or “The One”, but why not “Messenger”? …. I work in a language-oriented job and these things just bug me…

I don’t know what Colton’s reasons were, zaclona77, because as far as I know, he hasn’t specifically said. I could guess why not just “Messenger”, since the word already has multiple levels of meaning, from a favored name for newspapers to Microsoft’s Mail program, to the most common, Bike Messengers, or an express courier service. That gives rise to messenger bags, used by both men and women who are not bike messengers, as well as the real couriers.

All of these are centered on communication as their “message”, as is Johnny Mar’s solo album “The Messenger’ – due out February 26th. If you need a point of reference for him – he’s an ‘intricate and dynamic guitar player who helped write the score for the film “Inception’. He’s been in the business three decades. Also “Modest Mouse” – (Aside, I am likely going to check out and buy his album; Colton’s? No chance.)

But these artists are so disparate, I would be surprised if Colton even knew about Johnny Mars, and vice versa – and Mars use of “The” Messenger isn’t in the same category as Colton’s use of ‘ A Messenger’, he is explicitly after a religious connotation…but not too much. By that token, I think you are right about the ‘claiming to be the Messiah or The One’ possibly being the impression conveyed if he used “The” in the title. It’s a fine line, with that word, once he gets all ecclesiastical, and he’s still skating close to the archangels as it is – so I think Colton and/or his people settled on “A” Messenger. IMO.

But I also think Colton comes across as pretentious no matter what title he uses. Maybe not because of the content of the album so much (which I haven’t heard), as the interviews and press releases, which mj has posted. Though where I read sanctimony, there are probably people who do not, and many other people to buy his album.

Also. The preceding is Just My Opinion.

jennyl2

I’m a non-native English speaker so this may not be so correct. ‘The’ is referring to a specific. ‘A’ is general i.e. not one in particular. I don’t know his reasons but ‘a’ messenger sounds like a more humble reference to his role among the many messengers out there. Messenger does not necessarily have to mean ‘The Messiah’ although he is know as that. It may just simply mean to be a carrier of a message which can be anyone. (Hope this makes sense. :))

Anny_nanny

I think it is importantly visual solution. I see it on the cover of the album as an explanation of the name. If “a” was absent at all it would be just the name of the album. I’m not surprised, I remember that modesty is the main quality of Colton, he decided to record this fact in his biography.

I have been listening to K-Love (a contemporary Christian station) and really love their uplifting and inspirational music. I love hearing Colton’s song You Are on this station along with Mandisa and Jason Castro. I wish Colton the best and will be purchasing his album. Really enjoyed seeing him perform at the Citadel Christmas Tree lighting when I went to see Kris Allen perform.

usedtobelucy

What a fun thread. Thanks for all the thoughtful comments about the interesting title choice. Love lit crit on the AI blog!

I don’t know. Maybe because “Messenger” may come off just as pretentious as “The Messenger,” as if he were John the Baptist rather than Jesus, Himself. Heh. So, “A Messenger” is much less open to misunderstanding. He’s a congregant, I guess.

Incipit

“A Messenger”…. one of many spreading the word. Simple enough.

Aww, wordnerdarchie, it could seem less than simple to non-native English speakers, when they start to consider which article is used with the noun, or why.

In any case, if one is invited to parse the word choices, how can a WordNerd resist? *wink* That’s just fun. IMO.

justmefornow

I think “A Messenger” is Colton’s way of thinking of himself as “God’s Gift” lol. Regardless, I wish him well. Never liked his nasally whiny voice, but others obviously do, so good for him. Next to P2, I have always said he’ll probably be the only other success story, (albeit a much smaller one than P2) from Season 11.

Yup. In Dixon’s known belief system, every believer is supposed to be a messenger of the Good News, so it’s actually a humble title, implying he’s simply the equal to every other believer. Going with “the” messenger would have been a theological d*ck move, as all are supposed to be equal in the dignity of baptism.

It’s also a way of straight-up telling his own CCM industry that he’s playing by its rules, not being a carpet-bagger who’s counting the minutes until he gets a crossover hit. (Songs in the Key of Jesus would also have worked, but I’m not surprised he takes himself more seriously than I do.)

Well, hey, the album’s on Spotify, so when I have the office to myself I can see how he did with the musical construction.

Yup. In Dixon’s known belief system, every believer is supposed to be a messenger of the Good News, so it’s actually a humble title, implying he’s simply the equal to every other believer. Going with “the” messenger would have been a theological d*ck move, as all are supposed to be equal in the dignity of baptism.

It’s also a way of straight-up telling his own CCM industry that he’s playing by its rules, not being a carpet-bagger who’s counting the minutes until he gets a crossover hit. (Songs in the Key of Jesus would also have worked, but I’m not surprised he takes himself more seriously than I do.)

Well, hey, the album’s on Spotify, so when I have the office to myself I can see how he did with the musical construction.

I wish Colton much success. I can’t imagine I will ever purchase his music in that I just don’t care for the nasally vocal thing he’s got going on, plus CCM just isn’t my genre of choice (though I make some exceptions for Jason who is a little less in your face with his music), but I expect Colton will do well for himself. Like MJ, I expect he will be a success within his genre.

TheOther

I also think Colton will be one of the quiet successes of Season 11. He has been good about positioning himself in CCM. That’s what I’ve liked the about the UMG era – allowing those artists who know who they are – develop in their genres. Instead of just boxing them into the default Pop Top 40.

it’s because he’s just A Messenger, one of many. It comes from his fav bible verse of John 13:16. We’re all messengers, he’s just one of us.

elliegrll

“A Messenger” would imply that Colton is not the only one, meaning the only Messenger. That’s a good idea, since that comes off as slightly less pretentious.

Andysgirl

He is set to tour in the spring with a powerhouse in the contemporary christian music world, Third Day. This will gain him many new fans who never watched American Idol.

b_james

There is a lot of chatter about Colton in the Christian music business right now, and I think he is absolutely going to be a huge success (and is already). He’s already performed at Passion Conference, is doing the Christian festival circuit this summer, his hits have been #1 on Christian charts, and his album is already generating major buzz. He’s gonna be all right.

Loving the album so far! If you’re not giving it a try cause ‘Christian music’ is not your thing, well I hope you reconsider cause the album is pretty generic in lyrics to keep a wide audience… kind of like the song ‘Everything’ he did on Idol. The big choruses on some of the songs are so epic and I love the piano build up!

It could also be one way of identifying with his fanbase who call themselves “messengers”.

zaclona77

Thank you so much, Incipit, I’ve enjoyed reading your answer. I did not think of the possibility of multiple meanings, so I quite like that line of thought. And after seeing your thoughtful answer and a couple of other reactions I think I might dare to ask this kind of questions more often … love reading different opinions and interpretations…

According to newreleasetuesday.com, the title definitely comes from the bible verse John 13:16. He sounds pretty pompous in the article and I don’t care for him so I’m not interested in his music. However, since I’m a huge fan of Third Day and Lifehouse, I may yet see him in concert.

Niall

I still can’t get past that album cover. He looks ridiculous, standing sideways looking like a stick figure with crazy hair. Who told him this was a good idea? LOL

IndieVision Music (big project of an Australian CCM fan): review seems to be glowing but I skimmed.

New Release Tuesday (definitely a staffed CCM publication): very positive, though it focuses more on the pastoral content of the lyrics than on the music.

coltoniseverything

I enjoyed reading this thread very much; the different viewpoints. wordnerdarchie, Eilonwy, and Roguel717-Heather, I agree with you. A Messenger, as in one of many. Colton describes his fans as Messengers, also. I saw that the video clips of the album were posted yesterday, but preferred to wait for today’s magical day…..Colton’s CD arrived in the mail today……Oh My……Definitely worth the wait……Congratulations, Colton. I’ve said this before, but deserves mentioning once again…..Your dream realized….. I truly believed this day would arrive. The path to a successful singing career expressing Gods’ love for us begins….. May you always feel contentment and peace in the music you create. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet you and the other idols this past summer. I have always enjoyed listening to Christian Music; you bring the enjoyment to another level. Be Blessed.

I am late to the thread but I waited to see if its available here in Australia & I am so pleased that it is. I think Colton has done the right thing going the CCM route . There have been many idol artists whose music hasn’t been readily available here through large recording companies. Not only is Colton’s album available at Christian stores here but also on i-Tunes-wonderful. So I have purchased & am enjoying the tracks. I wish him every success. Who knows -he may have more opportunity to tour here with one of the larger Christian bands- Switchfoot come regularly ,which he never would have done had he gone the normal Pop route. Also after years of having to buy Idol’s albums through Amazon [ eg Kris Allen, Michael Johns, James Durbin etc] & having to pay the expensive transport cost having Colton’s album available here is a real blessing.